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This September, when other first-year university students are telling their new classmates about a summer of partying and sun tanning, Cam Atkinson will probably be describing how it felt to welcome a Mexican family to their first real home.
"They had never owned a key before. They had never slept on a mattress before," said Atkinson, who starts at the University of Victoria this fall. "It was just really amazing to change their lives."
Before the fun and sun of summer vacation began, Atkinson joined a group of North Vancouver students who headed to Mexico to leave a lasting mark on poverty-stricken families there.
Twenty-seven students from Seycove secondary, along with two teachers and four chaperones, embarked on a 10-day trip to Vicente Guerrero, a small village on the Baja Peninsula. Their goal: to build two houses for Mexican families in a town where many people live in shelters fashioned out of cardboard boxes, garbage bags and twine.
Atkinson said that one family of 15 lived in a shelter built by leaning four garage doors against each other and draping a tarp over top.
The trip was planned by an organization called Hero Holiday that provides high school students with the opportunity to experience humanitarian relief projects first hand. Under the leadership of Seycove teacher Andrea Yeo and Carson Graham counsellor Rob Olson, the group of grade 9-12 students departed for the Mexican city July 2.
Vicente Guerrero, about four and a half hours south of the U.S. border, is home to a tiny population that lives in abject poverty. Parents are too poor to obtain birth certificates for their children, or to enroll them in school.
All that anybody has are the people around them, Yeo said.
"It is quite a small town with really great people who are very relational," she said. "But they live in huge, huge poverty and lots of people in the villages are without proper shelter."
The group arrived in Vicente Guerrero hoping to make some sort of difference, and that's exactly what they did. In a matter of four days, the students had teamed up to complete and furnish two houses.
The structures, measuring 19 by 20 feet, were built with four exterior walls and three rooms. Atkinson said that many of the local adults and teenagers volunteered to help with the work, and the students taught them how to use power tools for the first time.
When the volunteers needed a rest, Atkinson said, they'd play with the local children, none of whom understood a word of English. "There was this barrier between us, but we still communicated with them."
The houses were intended for two families of six, but the group quickly realized they were going to share them with others in their village.
"Family's everything in Mexico, much more so than our perception of family here," said Olson. "By building a couple of houses, we saw how people there come together. They're so desperate for decent housing."
Approximately 15 people moved into each house once they were completed.
Throughout their trip, students got a firsthand view of the poverty and harsh conditions in which some people are living. They also learned about the culture and the social injustice that exists in the area.
Atkinson pointed out that Canadian teenagers are fond of complaining, "it's not fair."
"Damn right it's not fair. The world is tilted in our favour," he said. People in Vicente Guerrero live on less than two dollars each day, and have to struggle to feed their families.
Yeo said she was very impressed with the overall project and commended the teamwork that the students demonstrated throughout the trip.
"Every single kid that was there had a heart of gold. They were really just an awesome group of kids," she said. "They absolutely knew that this wouldn't be a vacation. They were just so good with each other; if one kid needed a break, there was another who would step in and help."
When groups of people come together with a common goal, as the students did in July, they can expect great results, said Olson.
"Everyone had a common focus, to make a difference in the lives of people in need," he said. "We all walked away having learned something about empathy, standing up for the rights of the poor and learning about commonalities between people. It was a life-changing experience."
In the next couple of months, Olson and Yeo will present an application to the school board for a new global leadership course that they hope will be offered to students throughout the district.
Hero Holiday is offering the public several opportunities to combine travel and volunteering in the upcoming year. Youth can register to participate in outreach trips to Mexico, Thailand, or the Dominican Republic by calling 1-866-531-HERO or e-mailing info@heroholiday.com.
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